Best of AOP - Planetary Nebulae

NGC 1514

NGC 1514 is a very dim nebula towards the constellation of Taurus. It is characterized by a very dim, smooth outer shell with a much brighter inner shell and bright blobs. Measurements of the gas near center indicate that it is expanding outwardly at 25 kilometers per second. The morphology of this nebula is currently thought to be determined by a binary star (instead of a single star) in the center. Indeed, based on the likely masses of the progenitor stars (and possible separation) astronomers estimate these stars would orbit each other with a period of 4 to 9 days. If there are two stars at the heart of this nebula, the more massive one, which eventually shed its outer envelope, was probably 3 - 4 times as massive as our Sun.